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Monitoring Data - Benthic Surveillance
Benthic Surveillance Project (1984 to 1993)
The NS&T National Benthic Surveillance Project (NBSP) determined the status of and detected long-term trends in the environmental quality of the nearshore waters of the United States . The primary objective was to determine concentrations of organic and inorganiccontaminants in the liver and bile of bottom dwelling fishes, and in associated surficial sediment from coastal and estuarine waters of the United States . In addition, the incidence of visible lesions was noted and histopathological examinations of selected liver, kidneys, fins, gills, ovaries, and testes were conducted. In 1987, the NBSP expanded to include measurements of biological effects due to contaminant exposure, as indicated by the prevalence of toxicopathic liver diseases. Measurements of mixed function oxygenase (MFO) were used as an indicator of exposure to organic compounds and xenobiotics. The presence of DNA adducts was used as an indicator of genetic damage resulting from the interaction of xenobiotic metabolites with DNA.
Methods
Sites were selected to be representative of a particular body of water
and were not knowingly located near waste discharge points, local dump sites,
or contaminant "hot spots. To identify indicator species, and because of
the year to year variability of the original target species, 34 species were
eventually sampled. The primary species used in the NBSP were:
- Winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) from the Northeast
- White perch (Morone americana ) from the mid-Atlantic
- Atlantic croaker (Micropogonias undulatus) from the Southeast Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico
- White croaker (Genyonemus lineatus) from the Southwest
- English sole (Parophys vetulus) from the Northwest
- Flathead sole (Hippoglossoides elassodon) from Alaska
Annually until 1992, the NBSP collected fish and associated sediment samples from three stations at each site (stations are generally within 100 m of a site center). Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), butyltins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), DDT and metabolites, other chlorinated pesticides, and trace and major elements were quantified in estuarine and coastal sediments. The same analytes were quantified in fish liver tissues with the exception of PAHs, which are metabolized.
Complete field sampling procedures and analytical quantification methods, for the period 1984 through 1992 are described in NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS ORCA 71.
Survey
Using a survey tool, the NOS Coastal Environmental Monitoring Committee
(CEMC) in 1999 conducted and initial inventory of NOS operational monitoring
programs and activities. The survey results and program facts for the Benthic
Surveillance Project is available in the CEMC site.
NBSP was a cooperative effort with the National Marine Fisheries Service's Northwest, Northeast, and Southeast Fisheries Science Centers, who did the bulk of the field collection and laboratory analyses for the project.
A technical memorandum summarizing selected contaminants for all the NBSP sites sampled between 1984 and 1992 is available (Technical Memorandum #124).
References
- A Summary of Chemical Contaminant Levels at Benthic Surveillance Project Sites (1984-1992) - NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS ORCA 124
Cover and Table of Contents
Introduction and North Atlantic Estuaries
Mid Atlantic Estuaries
South Atlantic Estuaries
Gulf of Mexico Estuaries
Pacific Estuaries
Alaska
Appendices
- Sampling and analytical methods of the National Status and Trends Program National Benthic Surveillance and Mussel Watch Projects 1984-1992 - NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS ORCA 71
Vol I - Overview and summary of methods
Vol II - Comprehensive descriptions of complementary measurements
Vol III - Comprehensive descriptions of elemental analytical methods
Vol IV - Comprehensive descriptions of trace organic analytical methods
Partners
NOAA National Marine Fisheries ServiceNOAA Special Projects